Hoot Hester, the American country and bluegrass fiddler, is remembered on what would have been his 75th birthday for a career spanning more than four decades in Nashville. He became a respected Grand Ole Opry staff-band musician, toured and recorded with major artists, and was known for understated, versatile playing.

Born near Louisville, Kentucky, in 1951, Hester learnt several instruments before moving to Nashville in 1973. He performed with artists including Conway Twitty, Randy Travis, Bill Monroe and Ray Charles, helped form The Time Jumpers, joined the Opry house band in 2000, and collaborated with Earl Scruggs until Scruggs’s death in 2012. Hester died from cancer in 2016, aged 65.